




THE PLANCK CONSTANT
Black body is a full radiator, that means a body that absorb all
colliding rays. Such body is also the best rays emitter of all other bodies of the same
temperature. In the 19th century scientists researched radiation
of different bodies. They found the interdependence between the emissivity, the wavelength
and the body's (emitter's) temperature (see the picture).
The shape of the curve is temperature dependent. For higher temperatures
the curve achieves higher values and its maximum shifts to the waves of the smaller length.
The dependence between the body's temperature (T) and the wave's length (
max) achieving
which the function reaches its maximum is given by the formula:
(1)
where C = 2,898*10-3m*K
And so
max is directly proportional to the inverse of the temperature.
That relationship can be easily imagined by the example of heating a metal rod. In the
heating beginning the maximum will be at the invisible infra-red waves. After while the
maximum will be at the red waves - the rod will glow red. Heating the rod some more
the maximum shifts to the waves of the smaller length. Finally the rod becomes white
because of emitting the infra - red waves and the whole range of the visible radiation.
The curve describing the emission of the black body was achieved
experimentally. The phenomenon can't have been explained using the Maxwell laws nor any classic physical ones.
In 1900 Max Planck formulated
a new theory of radiation. He suggested the idea of atoms and other particles emitting
radiation not perpetual but in the form of energy portions depended only on the wave
frequency (v). That dependence is given by the formula below:
(2)
where h - the Planck constant equal 6,6*10-34 J*s
The single portion ef energy was called the quantum. The theory described the experimentally achieved
curve well. The h quantity become the basic one for quantum physics.
QUANTYM THEORY - THE NEW GREAT IDEA


